Dawn and Dusk driving with no tail lights

If that reassures you, that's of course totally fine.
Personally, I don't think it's necessary to drive with the headlights and taillights on during the day.
 
What is the benefit of Auto vs ON? From a safety POV I'd rather have my kids driving with lights on 24/7.

Depending on the year of your car, the lights On dim the dashboard if it is screenbased and the infotainment screen at night (so that they don’t blind the driver). By leaving them on in the day, they are dimmer than they should and can be harder to see in bright daylight.

Auto works really well, way better than back in the days, and the Daytime running lights are always on. And Auto also turns on the light when the wipers are activated.

In my opinion, Auto is perfect for 95% of the time. the only time it might not kick in and turn the lights on is in daytime fog. I leave all my cars in Auto.
 
I could frame your comment - "all about me" - from the perspective of impatient drivers tailgating, trying to pass, exactly the same.




One one hand, if a driver has space to move to the right lane without tailgating the car in front or being tailgated themselves, by all means! They should move over and keep the left lane uncongested.

If they can't, that driver has every right to maintain a safe following distance in the passing lane at whichever speed they choose, without being tailgated by ("me, me, me...") drivers behind them.

TLDR. If I don't have space to maintain a safe following distance in the middle or right lane, I'm not moving over until I do.
Completely agree with the if the left laner has space to get over comment, but I don't put folks who want people to move to the right in the "me, me, me" category as there is actually a statute (and signage as well) telling slower drivers to move to the right. Obviously, if we are talking about a line of cars in the left lane due to traffic, a faster moving car approaching has to wait just like everyone else. It pisses me off when I am behind a row of cars in the left and an idiot comes rushing up on my right trying to wedge in a car or two ahead. They know exactly what they are doing....
 
It pisses me off when I am behind a row of cars in the left and an idiot comes rushing up on my right trying to wedge in a car or two ahead. They know exactly what they are doing....
It pisses me off when I am behind a row of cars in the left lane and I have to be the idiot passing on the right lane, breaking the law because of other *** camping in the left lane.
 
It pisses me off when I am behind a row of cars in the left lane and I have to be the idiot passing on the right lane, breaking the law because of other *** camping in the left lane.
I am referring to a line of cars slowly passing the cars on the right and someone else thinks they are more important than the other folks trying to pass so they want to cut in line to speed it up for themselves. This only makes other folks in line have to slow down for them to get back into the passing line..
 
Completely agree with the if the left laner has space to get over comment, but I don't put folks who want people to move to the right in the "me, me, me" category as there is actually a statute (and signage as well) telling slower drivers to move to the right. Obviously, if we are talking about a line of cars in the left lane due to traffic, a faster moving car approaching has to wait just like everyone else. It pisses me off when I am behind a row of cars in the left and an idiot comes rushing up on my right trying to wedge in a car or two ahead. They know exactly what they are doing....

I am referring to a line of cars slowly passing the cars on the right and someone else thinks they are more important than the other folks trying to pass so they want to cut in line to speed it up for themselves. This only makes other folks in line have to slow down for them to get back into the passing line..

I see what you're saying.

As I mentioned before, it's not helpful to get upset over what other drivers are doing.

I deal with it every single time I drive. I focus on good fuel economy. Skyactiv's were engineered that way. The gears are long and the transmission will only downshift when it needs to. This results in me holding some slow speeds at times. I will get up to speed gradually unless there is a real urgency, and like to wait until stretches of downhill to take full advantage of my acceleration needs. I've seen fuel economy as low as 5.3L/100km per tank with my NA Mazda 6.

I deal with several people on the road, each time I drive, who do not like my driving habits.

I usually try to stay out of their way. When I can't, I learned to live with it. Their tailgating and crazy passing maneuvers don't bother me anymore, and I couldn't be happier about it.
 
I usually try to stay out of their way. When I can't, I learned to live with it. Their tailgating and crazy passing maneuvers don't bother me anymore, and I couldn't be happier about it.
Defensive driving is the way to go!
 
What is the benefit of Auto vs ON? From a safety POV I'd rather have my kids driving with lights on 24/7.
I can agree, used to be a day my previous employer required lights on whenever driving company vehicles. Yeah I had to turn them on manually... became standard practice for me under most circumstances.
 
my 2015 mazda 6 has four light settings:

1. off
2. auto
3. taillights lights on with DRL's, and then
4. with the HID's on

I don't use auto anymore, because I like to toggle between my DRL's and HID's (with the taillights otherwise on) depending on the situation when driving in the dark. For example, if I'm driving in brightly lit suburb streets, I don't use my HID's. driving up in the country where it's dark, I of course do.
 
For example, if I'm driving in brightly lit suburb streets, I don't use my HID's. driving up in the country where it's dark, I of course do.
My Adaptive LED Headlights even take care of that in auto mode :-)
But if I understood correctly, the Mazdas in the USA don't have such headlights.
 
That system is called Mazda's Adaptive Front Lighting System (AFS).
 
Yeah. EU has the matrix led enabled lights vs US where they are not enabled but hardware is there on top trims 2022-.
The US law changed recently so may be one day we"ll get them.
 
mazda version of that capability with advanced illumination headlights. Audi has a more advanced version of real matrix headlights but thats out of scope.

You drive with full blast all lights (like on high beams) and the car switches off select leds to not blind incoming traffic but keeps other leds on at full blast.

In US we jusst get the flip between low and high and thats it. Rest of the world get the more advanced version.

 
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Completely agree with the if the left laner has space to get over comment, but I don't put folks who want people to move to the right in the "me, me, me" category as there is actually a statute (and signage as well) telling slower drivers to move to the right. Obviously, if we are talking about a line of cars in the left lane due to traffic, a faster moving car approaching has to wait just like everyone else. It pisses me off when I am behind a row of cars in the left and an idiot comes rushing up on my right trying to wedge in a car or two ahead. They know exactly what they are doing....

I see what you're saying.

As I mentioned before, it's not helpful to get upset over what other drivers are doing.

I deal with it every single time I drive. I focus on good fuel economy. Skyactiv's were engineered that way. The gears are long and the transmission will only downshift when it needs to. This results in me holding some slow speeds at times. I will get up to speed gradually unless there is a real urgency, and like to wait until stretches of downhill to take full advantage of my acceleration needs. I've seen fuel economy as low as 5.3L/100km per tank with my NA Mazda 6.

I deal with several people on the road, each time I drive, who do not like my driving habits.

I usually try to stay out of their way. When I can't, I learned to live with it. Their tailgating and crazy passing maneuvers don't bother me anymore, and I couldn't be happier about it.
@sm1ke would be great to have a dedicated thread about this.
 
mazda version of that capability with advanced illumination headlights. Audi has a more advanced version of real matrix headlights but thats out of scope.

You drive with full blast all lights (like on high beams) and the car switches off select leds to not blind incoming traffic but keeps other leds on at full blast.

In US we jusst get the flip between low and high and thats it. Rest of the world get the more advanced version.

I can't understand how this would not be allowed in the US. Seems superior to simple hi/low beams as we have now. We can be archaic at times....
 
@sm1ke would be great to have a dedicated thread about this.

Sure, if you'd like to create a new thread, I can move the two posts referenced. Maybe a dedicated thread to post bad driver encounters or experiences?
 
Sure, if you'd like to create a new thread, I can move the two posts referenced. Maybe a dedicated thread to post bad driver encounters or experiences?
I was thinking to start a thread where we discuss good defensive driving habits. should i use the lounge?
 

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